Index on Censorship examines the question, posed by MailOnline editor Martin Clarke, How does the Leveson Enquiry deal with the internet? But it misses the point that Clarke’s focus on the internet is simply diversionary tactics, designed to draw attention away from press conduct and point the finger at, well, it seems, pretty much everyone who’s ever used a social tool.

Said Clarke in his evidence:

Underpinning any press regulator as a statutory body effectively gives the state the power to licence newspapers and penalise ones that either do not join the body or ignore its rules. The only way to force bloggers to sign up as well would be to give that statutory body the same power to shut down blogs. If licensing newspapers is a severe restriction on free speech, this would be positively North Korean and the subject of mass internet protest. But even if we could get a law through, is it enforceable? Are we really going to drag Guido Fawkes off to the tower like his famous namesake for not joining the PCC?

Trouble is, the Leveson Inquiry wasn’t called because of bloggers hacking phones or Twitter users flouting a superinjunction as an act of civil disobedience or the impact one Tweet from Stephen Fry can have. It was called because of widespread corruption within the media, the political body, and the police, amongst others. It’s about the press becoming so powerful it could actually bully the government, and corrupt public officials and police officers. If a proper investigation was done, and Motorman taken to its logical conclusion, there’s every possibility that corruption would be found elsewhere as well.

I don’t think Guido Fawkes, on the other hand, quite has the money to go round giving police officers tens of thousands of pounds in return for juicy bits of information. There’s no evidence that Twitter users were hacking into anyone’s phones and publishing salacious comments based on what they found. And whilst every now and again a Facebook user turns out to be a racist shit, there’s no evidence of press-related criminality there.

Clarke, like so many of the newspaper editors, proprietors, managers and journalists we’ve seen giving evidence is keen to draw the fire away from his own publication and refocus it on somewhere else, preferably somewhere complicated. The internet makes a great new target because it is complicated, and because a new press regulator is going to have to think very carefully about how to deal with it.

But on the question of corruption, bribery, proto-blackmail, influence, graft, fraud, misconduct and criminal activity, the internet and its users is for the most part irrelevant. If you can find me a blogger or a Twitterer or a Facebook user who is guilty of media corruption, then that becomes a problem for Leveson.

In the meantime, existing laws are being used to deal with those who Tweet rape victims names, racially abuse others on Facebook, or write libellous blog posts. So it’s not like the Internet is quite the wild west it used to be. Turns out, in fact, that however complicated jurisdiction may be, there is jurisdiction.

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Suw Charman-Anderson

With a decade of social media experience, it’s fair to say that Suw is one of the UK’s social media pioneers. She has worked with many household names, helping clients worldwide use social tools for collaboration and communication internally and to build customer relationships externally. She has a comprehensive understanding of strategy and implementation, with a depth of experience that is very hard to find in such a young field of expertise.

Suw writes fiction, available only via her monthly newsletter, and is fascinated by crafts such as bookbinding, goldwork embroidery and bobbin lace. Chocolate and Vodka is her personal blog where she writes about writing and any $random_subjects that catch her eye. And yes, she's married to Kevin.

Kevin Anderson

Kevin brings almost 20 years of cutting edge journalism experience to his work. He is currently a regional executive editor for Gannett Wisconsin Media, overseeing two newsrooms, the Sheboygan Press and HTR Media.

Before joining Gannett, he held a number of pioneering positions with news organizations. In 1998, he became the BBC’s first online journalist based outside of the UK, covering the US for its award winning news website. In 2005, he went to London for the BBC where he developed a blogging strategy for BBC News, served on a corporate-wide blog and podcast steering committee, helped launch a program on BBC 5Live covering weblogs and podcasts and was on the team that launched the interactive radio program World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service.

From 2006 to 2010, he worked at The Guardian as its first blogs editor and then as its digital research editor. While blogs editor, he launched a culture blogs network, a successful food blog and an environmental blog network that incorporated both Guardian and independent content. As digital research editor, he was responsible for monitoring key developments in digital media and evaluating their value to Guardian journalists and audiences.

From June 2012 through July 2013, Kevin was a member of the management team of the Media Development Investment Fund and editor of the Fund's Knowledge Bridge site and newsletter. The Media Development Investment Fund invests in independent news organizations in emerging democracies, and the Knowledge Bridge project is designed to help these news organizations make the digital transition.

From 2010 until he joined MDIF in 2012, he worked as a freelance journalist, digital media consultant and digital journalism trainer working with news organizations including Al Jazeera, Reed Business Information, Czech TV and CNN International.